Tag: MTM program

Monday, May 9 was election day. I was planning to go early so that I can leave for Manila earlier, but well, hello sleep hehehe. It was almost closing time when I reached the precinct but at least there were no more lines. Done voting in less than 5 minutes. I double checked my receipt and it had all the names I shaded. I was relieved.

I am also glad election is over. It is our responsibility as Filipinos to support the new administration, regardless if it was our candidate of choice who won or not. Again, it is our responsibility.

I proceeded to town after voting. I had an early dinner at Vizcos and then was able to ride a 7PM Victory Liner trip. No long lines this time, thank God. Arrived in Manila at around 1AM so at least there was still enough time to rest before the new work week.

Project MTM

I haven’t gone back to graduate school yet since after my father died in 2015. Until now, I’m still contemplating whether to push through or not. Contemplating because, I think I would like to take a new path now. But while I haven’t fully decided yet to stop, I met up with a classmate to copy her reviewers. We spent the whole morning discussing about her new venture and sometimes about our future plans. I wish her well.

Unfortunately, it seems like the USB got corrupted huhuhu so I need to copy from her again. Bad thing though is that, my most recent financial files are there and I haven’t backed those up in the laptop. Hay naku.

Weekend

I can’t remember the last time I watched a movie. I think I wanted to watch a movie in February but was not able to do it. I also have 2 tickets I won last December during our team party. It did not have an expiration date but better to use it now just to be sure. And so, my friend and I did a movie marathon. Not 2 but 3 movies hehehe. In between the movies were spent eating and window shopping. We also availed of Dad’s merienda buffet, the bill paid by my friend hehe. We also checked out some of the shops and tried some clothes. No buying.

Speaking of buying, I want to buy a Samsonite luggage. Citibank has a 15% discount promo until May 31. However, I don’t know anyone who owns a Citibank credit card. My previous applications were always denied. According to HR friends, it is because I work in a BPO. Huwell. Let’s see about the luggage din.

Since it was a payday weekend, there were a lot of people at the mall. Daming pera mga tao hehehe. Sana lang nakapagtabi na muna sila for savings bago sila magwaldas.

Final exam submitted! It’s officially semestral break for me. I’m so glad the sem is over! Too many requirements to complete to think that I only took 2 subjects this sem. I can’t imagine if there were 3. Anyway, no matter how toxic it was, there were relevant lessons learned so that is something to be thankful for.

One subject I took was on Legal Aspects of Technology Management. And yes, this deals with all the laws around Intellectual Property, taught by a lawyer, the same one who established the IPO in the Philippines. I was intimidated at first but turned out she’s cool and so I immensely enjoyed her class despite all the legal jargons! So much so that my evaluation of her contains this: “She is well-versed and very passionate of her field. She shares true stories to relate to the topics so it becomes easier to understand the lesson, especially for someone who doesn’t have Law background. Thank you, Ma’am! Ma-mimiss ko ang mga totoong chismis mo! At ang pagtawag mo sa amin ng “children” especially if we are too focused about being great and seem to forget other essentials in life. :)”

For our Marketing Plan, we decided to use the smartcard (contactless card) that will replace the magnetic cards we use in the MRT 3, LRT 1 and LRT 2 once the Automatic Fare Collection System (AFCS) is implemented as our product.

Some things that I learned about the project.

This is a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project that was awarded to AF Consortium early this year, first for 2014.

Consortium is a group of companies that partner together for a project. A stands for Ayala and F is First Pacific. First Pacific is the parent organization of Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC).

It is notable that although Ayala and MPIC are competitors in the telco industry, they joined forces for this project. Business is business.

AFCS aims to have a smartcard that can be used in all rail systems in the metro (both current and future extensions) and eventually expand to other transports like buses and cabs and also partner with retail establishments.

Most of the requirements in the invitation to bid document are based on standards defined by the International Organization for Standards (ISO). This means that the technology to be implemented here would be the same as those in other countries (i.e. Hong Kong, Singapore, etc.) Finally a taste of 1st world hehe. Side note:when we visited HK in 2011, I was so amazed with their rail system and since then wished that we have the same here. I hope that with this project, it will be the start of a better rail system for us.

Government’s requirement is that there should be no supplier lock in. Good. No monopoly.

Part of the consortium is Octopus Transactions Limited, the same company handling HK’s smartcard requirements.

A standard AFCS architecture can be summarized in 5 levels (starting at Level 0). Level 0: smartcard, Level 1: turnstiles; Level 2: station systems; Level 3: Line systems; Level 4: Central system (where all systems meet).
Looking forward to be able to top up in other retail establishments aside from the rail stations! More convenient, less lines in the stations!

Demographic dividend is an instance where young people are starting to enter the workforce, which in most countries signal stronger growth because they can work and spend more. (learned about this while researching for environmental factors for the AFCS project)

It was a challenging paper to write but it’s good to get some bonuses such as learning about industries that’s outside of my profession. Crossing my fingers that AFCS will be implemented by 2015, as targeted by DOTC and LRTA. It would be nice to be migrated to this system at the soonest possible time!

Aahhhh, now that we’re done with this paper (writing and reporting about it), I am just left with 2 take home final exams before the semestral break. Can’t wait! One more week!

The event: midterm exam for Technology Marketing and Commercialization
Scope: Chapters 1-9 of the reference book
Study strategies:

Read the book and the prof’s presentation slides

Write down notes (do not encode) for better memory retention

Reduce sleeping hours to study longer

Next scenes: exam proper.

Prof lets us place our things in front, hands over the exam questions and gives the go signal that we can start.

Me: read the instructions, then the questions. Stared at it, read again, stared-read. Repeat for 10 minutes (or more). Take deep breaths while in my head I’m already screaming “anong sagot sa mga ito?”. Heart starts to beat faster (because I don’t know the freakin’ answer to the questions!!!!). Me doing pep talk with myself to calm down as I try to recall the possible answers to the questions. Pampalubag loob. There were at least 2 questions that I’m sure of the answer. But, these are just 2 questions out of the 7 so it’s not even 50% yet!

After an hour: I was already tempted to submit my paper because what’s the point? I don’t know what else to write hahaha! But then, I stayed a little longer and tried harder to recall our other topics.

So anyare? I don’t know. Best effort yung pagrereview ko dito. Itong subject na ito ang pinaglaanan ko ng matagal sa pagrereview. It’s just that there are so many concepts even in one chapter (so imagine all the 9 chapters) that it’s hard to remember everything. Plus maybe, my note taking wasn’t that effective still. Or maybe, I need to read the book a hundred more times to remember half of the concepts. Kung dito, ganito na, paano pa ang comprehensive exam! Waaaahhh!!!

Yey! One down, more to go! I didn’t realize how much this paper stressed me until after our report when I finally was able to breathe normally and feel happy and light despite close to hibernating! LOL! I don’t understand why I was tense the whole day when I’m not usually like this. Maybe because we were so traditionally corporate looking with our attires! I had to wear blazer just to have the required look but I am not used to it since it’s not my normal. Anyway, I’m just glad it’s over! Time to get some sleep and start preparing for midterm exams before going back to working on another long group paper! Whew!